Would we baptize aliens?

[gurneyhalleck1]

Would we baptize Boba Fett? Since he’s Jango Fett’s clone pseudo-son, hmmmm, this opens quite the conundrum!

 

[Jackson Cooper]

Dolphins and whales are highly intelligent animals, but no one has ever suggested we baptise them. Why would intelligent creatures from beyond earth be any different?

Now why would you use that standard of intelligence?

 

[~Anastasia~]

Aliens did fall but there is no salvation for them at all. They are the offspring of fallen angels. They are demons not people. Jesus came to save HUMANS

My questions on that count were rhetorical. But yes, my point was that Christ came for salvation of humankind.

 

[Jackson Cooper]

That's not a question we have to debate until it happens.

But seriously ... part of the whole story of man's history and salvation includes the fall of man through sin, the fall of the created order because of our position as priests over creation, Christ's entry into human flesh and redemption of mankind, and so on.

Aliens aren't part of that. Did they fall? Did Christ redeem them in some way? That's His business. If they even exist.

Asking such questions reminds me of how many angels can dance on the head of a pin, or whether God can create a rock too big for Himself to lift.

Ask your priest. But it's more important to look at why such questions concern you - since you are asking - than the actual answer, since it will probably never come up.

Only the theological points behind it are worth understanding, and we don't need to invoke outer-space aliens to understand them.

God be with you.

It would bother me that if there are alien creatures of the same intellect as humans, that they would be doomed to nihilism or something.

 

[ArmyMatt]

It would bother me that if there are alien creatures of the same intellect as humans, that they would be doomed to nihilism or something.

but they aren't. if they are out there, they are animals.

 

[~Anastasia~]

It would bother me that if there are alien creatures of the same intellect as humans, that they would be doomed to nihilism or something.

God is good and loves the creation. He proclaimed it all "very good" in the beginning. He made the way for the restoration of the cosmos. Only those that don't WANT any part of Him will be "doomed". That is because God is good. Trust God, and don't imagine that He unfairly condemns anyone.

That is the underlying principle, based on Who God is.

I don't believe there are aliens living on other planets. But if they are, leave them to God.

 

[Andrei D]

Yet, what if these aliens turn out to be our long lost ancestors?

 

[Denadii]

Yet, what if these aliens turn out to be our long lost ancestors?

That's what the Catholic pope says. Rediculous hey? He contradicts the bible.

 

[ArmyMatt]

Yet, what if these aliens turn out to be our long lost ancestors?

to someone who thinks that, I would suggest watching less of the History channel.

 

[RobNJ]

to someone who thinks that, I would suggest watching less of the History channel.

 

[LizaMarie]

While I don't doubt that God could have created life elsewhere had he so desired, I think we are so far the crown of creation, but we do have the angelic realm, both those who obey God and the fallen kind.
The current UFO/alien sightings, abductions, which are going on, some of which I think are real- I believe these UFOS and their occupants are interdimensional -not extraterrestrial -in origin, i.e. the spiritual dimension. In short,in my opinion these are fallen angels deceiving humans. This is my belief and I stand to be corrected.
In other words, I have an open mind. We could discover life on other planets, I honestly don't believe it will be complex life. BUT- God could create other sentient beings elsewhere. If they exist, I don't think we will know about them until after the 2nd coming and we have the new heaven and Earth.
Think about the UFO/ET phenomenon for a minute, most of the encounters deny the God of the BIble,
say humans are the result of the mixing of alien genes and primates living on this planet, in other words the aliens created us.
There was a MIT study done in 1992 which came to the conclusion that alien abductions were very similar to Satanic Ritual abuse.
Both Whitley Streiber and Michael S. Heiser have noted how similar the modern day abduction scenarios are to the Incubi/Succubi phenomenon. (Read Streibers book Communion, he believes these were aliens and people not knowing about other planets thought they were demons)Heiser believes the opposite.
Heiser is an evangelical UFO researcher who is very sceptical about the extraterrestrial hypothesis.
He believes that if these abductions are real, and not the result of someone's mind, they are evil.
And I concur.

 

[LizaMarie]

God is good and loves the creation. He proclaimed it all "very good" in the beginning. He made the way for the restoration of the cosmos. Only those that don't WANT any part of Him will be "doomed". That is because God is good. Trust God, and don't imagine that He unfairly condemns anyone.

That is the underlying principle, based on Who God is.

I don't believe there are aliens living on other planets. But if they are, leave them to God.

Yes, this.

 

[LizaMarie]

Baptizable——Vulcans, Bajorans, Andorians, Melkotians, Tellarites, Orions, Betazoids, even Klingons

Unbaptizable——Romulans, Borg, Kardassians, Ferengi, Maquis, Q Continuum, Tholians

Ferengis can be good guys sometimes!

 

[LEAA/SOFR]

I'm no sci-fi techi or professor with a gigantic telescope
the size of Manhattan, but if aliens from over 6,000 light
years away were to gaze at us through their telescopes,
wouldn't they see Adam and Eve flouncing around in the
Garden of Eden rather then all of us in 2018?

Since light takes time traveling from one place to another,
the farther out in space you look, the farther back in time
you see.

 

[Petros2015]

Aliens aren't part of that. Did they fall? Did Christ redeem them in some way? That's His business. If they even exist.

Poses an interesting question - if the Orthodox position is that death entered as a consequence of sin. So... are alien worlds subject to death, or just our world? If not just our world, was it as a consequence of their sin in a similar Edenic scenario, or did ours affect the universe in general?

 

[RDKirk]

Would we baptize Boba Fett? Since he’s Jango Fett’s clone pseudo-son, hmmmm, this opens quite the conundrum!

That brings up a more proximate question for us in this world in the foreseeable future--likely within my lifetime.

 

[Mary of Bethany]

Poses an interesting question - if the Orthodox position is that death entered as a consequence of sin. So... are alien worlds subject to death, or just our world? If not just our world, was it as a consequence of their sin in a similar Edenic scenario, or did ours affect the universe in general?

C.S. Lewis addressed that in his book Perelandra (2nd book of the Space Trilogy). It's a very good read.

 

[Petros2015]

Yep, I love that book.

 

[ArmyMatt]

death and corruption entered into all of the cosmos when man fell, not just earth.

 

[RobNJ]

death and corruption entered into all of the cosmos when man fell, not just earth.

Yup, my Priest always referred to the fall as affecting the whole cosmos, not just here.